Soul Cosmic by Himani

Q1 Tell us something about yourself?

I always want to learn and to teach and believe that we do not use enough of our own capabilities – that the only way to remain mentally young and interesting to keep the brain active learning new things and acquiring new skills and interests. After my management studies at IIM, Ahmedabad, I started by own business which is what I manage over the past 25 years, I also study for my Masters in Psychology, Spanish and plans to go into further studies in Anthropology

I believe that there must always be madness in life. I think I have an uncanny and instinctive understanding of people when I meet them, often forging instant connections. Life is never boring for me

 

Q2. When did you realize that you want to be a writer?

I have always wanted to write books since I was young. I wrote a lot for the magazines in College as well as poems and short stories. I finally decided to pursue this passion at a much later date.

 

Q3. “The BNO an absorbing title. Tell me why did you choose this title for your book?

Since the book revolved around the happenings and consequences of a single night and incident – the Boys Night Out, I decided to call the book by that theme. However, it seemed too direct so I used the frequently used acronyms and called it THE BNO. I thought it would be a better title than the direct Boys Night out as people would as what does BNO mean? I added the subtitle of “Sex Life and Hookah” as a dear friend once remarked, without reading the book that any book written by me should be called Sex, Life, and Hookah- I thought it was very suitable and apt

 

Q4. Tell our readers about the summary of your book?

The book is a multi-layered story – on the surface, it is based eight men who go out of town for a Boys night out. Two girls are invited and the night goes out of hand. A single night can affect marriages, relationships and change the lives of the players in unexpected ways.

On another level, the book speaks about different sexual aspects such as “givers and takers,” pheromones as well as psychological aspects such as Freudian concepts of the Id and the Oral personality types

On yet another layer, the story is about fetishes and fantasy, a human hunger that has been suppressed and become our hidden self.

The book has funny statements littered all over. Some people found the brackets and parenthesis distracting but I wanted to show that there is a constant double speak in people’s minds

The nature of the story makes the book fast paced as well as racy and explicit

 

 

Q5. A book is based on a very bold theme. Tell us why did you choose a bold theme for your debut book?

As I was studying for my Masters in Psychology recently, it dawned on me that many interesting concepts play out in the day to day life. Since my interest has always been in human relationships and sexualities, the story of the Boys Night Out became a good platform to discuss these. I wanted to write a book on present times, a book with people who seemed real and possible, everyday people, not heroes. Books are to suggest a slice of life and I have tried to showcase present day life in a metro, with people hiding their shadows. On one level the book says that every person has a shadow, a private hidden self.

 

 

 

Q6. How does your family treat your book?

My family was supportive of the book and encouraged me to write and publish it. I spoke to them if they were embarrassed due to the explicit nature but they have been backing me up wholeheartedly

 

Q7. Tell us some interesting facts while writing this book?

As I travel a lot for work, I often would write the book in flight or at the airport. When my co-passenger would ask and learn that I was writing a book, they would invariably break into a story of their own; usually one very personal. I have always maintained that sometimes it is easier to offload to a stranger that one knows that one may never meet and so my travel has been checkered by stories from people I met while traveling and writing

 

Q8. How important is the characterization of the book and how did you plan your characters of the book. Who is your favorite character?

My book is quite a short book and I wanted it that way to portray a racy night, the fast lives of Mumbaikars and so I was unable to build strongly on a single character. However I used childhood incidents as well as revealing a hidden layer in a character, a mask gently peeled away to reveal a person’s character. I am in love with all my characters, as each needs love. As a psychologist, I cannot help being less judgemental, but I am partial to Myra and her one liner quips

 

Q9. Everyone have strange writing habits. Tell us your strange writing style?

In my writings, I like to go back and forth in time so that the story does not follow a natural timeline but some things are remembered, things that happen later that are mentioned later. A lot of people did not like the high number of parenthesis or prackets in my story but I enjoy having this as a double thought that runs in all our brains

I tend to do my writing more when I travel (I get more time then) after a lot of brooding on the character and I can visualise the scene as if it is happening in front of me. Therefore rightfully many people have remarked that the book was very visual

 

Q10. Apart from writing and working what are your hobbies?

I actually enjoy being with younger people, spending as much time with my children and being with friends, watching theatre and sitting over endless cups of coffee, late nights talking… I enjoy travelling, as well as my walks and yoga. I learn English singing but that’s purely for fun. I love puzzles and lateral thinking exercises

 

Q11. What Marketing Strategies you are conducting for your book promotion?

Since I am new to books and the marketing of them, I have initially used Social Media for people to be aware of the book. The publishers had made a video trailer of the book which also went up on the net and the Facebook page of the Boys Night out. It’s my first foray in this trade and I know that there is more to just publishing a book – in today’s world with so many products out there, one needs to get noticed

 

 

Q12. Tell us something about your publisher and your association with them?

Since I was new to the world of publishing, I was innocent to send the book to a traditional publisher, through the contact of a friend. The publisher gently explained that the book was interesting but they would not be able to publish it as it had many explicit parts and it did not fit into their publishing speciality. I thought of contacting a literary agent but did not know how to go about it. A friend suggested self-publishing and Notion Press was highly recommended.  I asked for a few reviews and decided to give it a shot.

It was a pleasant, easy experience as the complete process was smooth, done by email with no face-to-face meetings

I had no repentance on the self-publishing but would prefer to have more hands on information on the online sales and e-book sales

 

 

Q13.  Which is your favourite genre of writing a book?

I enjoy reading on fiction esp. when a book touches on people and why they behave the way they do, stories that involve their thinking and the interplay with others.

My bookshelves at home are yet filled with the books that influenced me to include Ayn Rand, Orwell, Wodehouse, Herman Hesse, Thomas Mann, Gide, Camus, Henry Miller, Capote, James Baldwin, Doctorow, Edmund White  and of course one of my favourites, Gore Vidal

 

Q14. How long have you been writing?

I have been writing as a child. I wrote many short stories and too many poems as a child in my youth. I regularly contributed to the college magazines and started a small magazine in college too. Once I was married and at work, the volume of writing came down drastically and seeing the new trends in writing where everyone wrote with such pizzazz, I lost a lot of confidence. I continued to write poetry privately. And then one fine day, perhaps several years too late, I actually started penning down a book, which is THE BNO. I was not perturbed on how it will be accepted or whether my writing was good enough. Probably it was the right time for me

 

 

Q15. How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book?

As I was studying for my Masters in Psychology recently, it dawned on me that many interesting concepts play out in the day to day life. Since my interest has always been in human relationships and sexualities, the story of the Boys Night Out became a good platform to discuss these. I wanted to write a book on present times, a book with people who seemed real and possible, everyday people, not heroes. Books are to suggest a slice of life and I have tried to showcase present day life in a metro, with people hiding their shadows. On one level the book says that every person has a shadow, a private hidden self.

 

Q16. What makes your book stand out from the crowd?

The BNO talks on topics that are normally swept under the carpet, topics that everyone knows exist- it is the elephant in the room and no one acknowledging it. It is a relatively new genre in the country and it stands out because of many reasons: its content, its brevity, its simplicity of language and the story in which everyone sees something of them

 

 

Q17. What do you think is the future of reading/writing?

I feel with the growth of so many alternate media and entertainment options, the younger people are reading lesser. There has been a shift towards eBooks and lately more people are shifting to audio books that they hear on their phones. Bookshops are shutting and sales are primarily on the net

Regarding books, I think books will become shorter and faster as people have lesser disposable time and attention spans for a particular session have reduced

Q18.  Tell us about your future projects?

I am working on an exciting new project at the moment – with a planned publication in November this year. I continue with different psychological ideas with current day topics that are uncomfortable to discuss such as partial impotence, cures for smoking, voyeurism, marriages of conveniences, homosexuality in a relationship, a fear of sexual relationships as well as difficult topics of the relationships between fathers and sons over time

 

Q19. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

I heard that writing is a craft and that it takes time and a lot of effort and planning For example in book two, I have all my thoughts and stories in place but it takes

 

 

Q20. What message you would like to convey to debut writers and readers?

Everyone finds their own message in a book. Some people who read this book mentioned that it was a remarkable way to highlight how a night of wine and women could lead to destructions so they saw a moral message. Others thought the book was a showcase of how people actually live and behave and the masks they hide behind. It is a message to get in touch with one’s inner selves and make peace with your desires, to be comfortable with one’s feelings and accept oneself.

 

 

Thank you Manoj for spending valuable time with us. It was indeed an interesting session. All the best for your book.

Q1 Tell us something about yourself?

I always want to learn and to teach and believe that we do not use enough of our own capabilities – that the only way to remain mentally young and interesting to keep the brain active learning new things and acquiring new skills and interests. After my management studies at IIM, Ahmedabad, I started by own business which is what I manage over the past 25 years, I also study for my Masters in Psychology, Spanish and plans to go into further studies in Anthropology

I believe that there must always be madness in life. I think I have an uncanny and instinctive understanding of people when I meet them, often forging instant connections. Life is never boring for me

 

Q2. When did you realize that you want to be a writer?

I have always wanted to write books since I was young. I wrote a lot for the magazines in College as well as poems and short stories. I finally decided to pursue this passion at a much later date.

 

Q3. “The BNO a very interesting title. Tell me why did you choose this title for your book?

Since the book revolved around the happenings and consequences of a single night and incident – the Boys Night Out, I decided to call the book by that theme. However, it seemed too direct so I used the frequently used acronyms and called it THE BNO. I thought it would be a better title than the direct Boys Night out as people would as what does BNO mean? I added the subtitle of “Sex Life and Hookah” as a dear friend once remarked, without reading the book that any book written by me should be called Sex, Life, and Hookah- I thought it was very suitable and apt

 

Q4. Tell our readers about the summary of your book?

The book is a multi-layered story – on the surface, it is based eight men who go out of town for a Boys night out. Two girls are invited and the night goes out of hand. A single night can affect marriages, relationships and change the lives of the players in unexpected ways.

On another level, the book speaks about different sexual aspects such as “givers and takers,” pheromones as well as psychological aspects such as Freudian concepts of the Id and the Oral personality types

On yet another layer, the story is about fetishes and fantasy, a human hunger that has been suppressed and become our hidden self.

The book has funny statements littered all over. Some people found the brackets and parenthesis distracting but I wanted to show that there is a constant double speak in people’s minds

The nature of the story makes the book fast paced as well as racy and explicit

 

 

Q5. A book is based on a very bold theme. Tell us why did you choose a bold theme for your debut book?

As I was studying for my Masters in Psychology recently, it dawned on me that there are many interesting concepts that play out in the day to day life. Since my interest has always been in human relationships and sexualities, the story of the Boys Night Out became a good platform to discuss these. I wanted to write a book on present times, a book with people who seemed real and possible, everyday people, not heroes. Books are to suggest a slice of life and I have tried to showcase present day life in a metro, with people hiding their shadows. On one level the book says that every person has a shadow, a private hidden self.

 

 

 

Q6. How does your family treat your book?

My family was supportive of the book and encouraged me to write and publish it. I spoke to them if they were embarrassed due to the explicit nature but they have been backing me up wholeheartedly

 

Q7. Tell us some interesting facts while writing this book?

As I travel a lot for work, I often would write the book in flight or at the airport. When my co-passenger would ask and learn that I was writing a book, they would invariably break into a story of their own; usually one very personal. I have always maintained that sometimes it is easier to offload to a stranger that one knows that one may never meet and so my travel has been checkered by stories from people I met while traveling and writing

 

Q8. How important is the characterization of the book and how did you plan your characters of the book. Who is your favorite character?

My book is quite a short book and I wanted it that way to portray a racy night, the fast lives of Mumbaikars and so I was unable to build strongly on a single character. However I used childhood incidents as well as revealing a hidden layer in a character, a mask gently peeled away to reveal a person’s character. I am in love with all my characters, as each needs love. As a psychologist, I cannot help being less judgemental, but I am partial to Myra and her one liner quips

 

Q9. Everyone have strange writing habits. Tell us your strange writing style?

In my writings, I like to go back and forth in time so that the story does not follow a natural timeline but there are things that are remembered, things that happen later that are mentioned later. A lot of people did not like the high number of parenthesis or prackets in my story but I enjoy having this as a double thought that runs in all our brains

I tend to do my writing more when I travel (I get more time then) after a lot of brooding on the character and I can visualise the scene as if it is happening in front of me. Therefore rightfully many people have remarked that the book was very visual

 

Q10. Apart from writing and working what are your hobbies?

I actually enjoy being with younger people, spending as much time with my children and being with friends, watching theatre and sitting over endless cups of coffee, late nights talking… I enjoy travelling, as well as my walks and yoga. I learn English singing but that’s purely for fun. I love puzzles and lateral thinking exercises

 

Q11. What Marketing Strategies you are conducting for your book promotion?

Since I am new to books and the marketing of them, I have initially used Social Media for people to be aware of the book. The publishers had made a video trailer of the book which also went up on the net and the Facebook page of the Boys Night out. It’s my first foray in this trade and I know that there is more to just publishing a book – in today’s world with so many products out there, one needs to get noticed

 

 

Q12. Tell us something about your publisher and your association with them?

Since I was new to the world of publishing, I was innocent to send the book to a traditional publisher, through the contact of a friend. The publisher gently explained that the book was interesting but they would not be able to publish it as it had many explicit parts and it did not fit into their publishing speciality. I thought of contacting a literary agent but did not know how to go about it. A friend suggested self-publishing and Notion Press was highly recommended.  I asked for a few reviews and decided to give it a shot.

It was a pleasant, easy experience as the complete process was smooth, done by email with no face-to-face meetings

I had no repentance on the self-publishing but would prefer to have more hands on information on the online sales and e-book sales

 

 

Q13.  Which is your favourite genre of writing a book?

I enjoy reading on fiction esp. when a book touches on people and why they behave the way they do, stories that involve their thinking and the interplay with others.

My bookshelves at home are yet filled with the books that influenced me to include Ayn Rand, Orwell, Wodehouse, Herman Hesse, Thomas Mann, Gide, Camus, Henry Miller, Capote, James Baldwin, Doctorow, Edmund White  and of course one of my favourites, Gore Vidal

 

Q14. How long have you been writing?

I have been writing as a child. I wrote many short stories and too many poems as a child in my youth. I regularly contributed to the college magazines and started a small magazine in college too. Once I was married and at work, the volume of writing came down drastically and seeing the new trends in writing where everyone wrote with such pizzazz, I lost a lot of confidence. I continued to write poetry privately. And then one fine day, perhaps several years too late, I actually started penning down a book, which is THE BNO. I was not perturbed on how it will be accepted or whether my writing was good enough. Probably it was the right time for me

 

 

Q15. How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book?

As I was studying for my Masters in Psychology recently, it dawned on me that there are many interesting concepts that play out in the day to day life. Since my interest has always been in human relationships and sexualities, the story of the Boys Night Out became a good platform to discuss these. I wanted to write a book on present times, a book with people who seemed real and possible, everyday people, not heroes. Books are to suggest a slice of life and I have tried to showcase present day life in a metro, with people hiding their shadows. On one level the book says that every person has a shadow, a private hidden self.

 

Q16. What makes your book stand out from the crowd?

The BNO talks on topics that are normally swept under the carpet, topics that everyone knows exist- it is the elephant in the room and no one acknowledging it. It is a relatively new genre in the country and it stands out because of many reasons: its content, its brevity, its simplicity of language and the story in which everyone sees something of them

 

 

Q17. What do you think is the future of reading/writing?

I feel with the growth of so many alternate media and entertainment options, the younger people are reading lesser. There has been a shift towards eBooks and lately more people are shifting to audio books that they hear on their phones. Bookshops are shutting and sales are primarily on the net

Regarding books, I think books will become shorter and faster as people have lesser disposable time and attention spans for a particular session have reduced

Q18.  Tell us about your future projects?

I am working on an exciting new project at the moment – with a planned publication in November this year. I continue with different psychological ideas with current day topics that are uncomfortable to discuss such as partial impotence, cures for smoking, voyeurism, marriages of conveniences, homosexuality in a relationship, a fear of sexual relationships as well as difficult topics of the relationships between fathers and sons over time

 

Q19. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

I learnt that writing is a craft and that it takes time and a lot of effort and planning For example in book two, I have all my thoughts and stories in place but it takes

 

 

Q20. What message you would like to convey to debut writers and readers?

Everyone finds their own message in a book. Some people who read this book mentioned that it was a remarkable way to highlight how a night of wine and women could lead to destructions so they saw a moral message. Others thought the book was a showcase of how people actually live and behave and the masks they hide behind. It is a message to get in touch with one’s inner selves and make peace with your desires, to be comfortable with one’s feelings and accept oneself.

 

 

Thank you Manoj for spending valuable time with us. It was indeed an interesting session. All the best for your book.

 

Book Link:

Amazon: The BNO (Sex, Life and Hookah)